


In Which Syenite Breaks

by bastardcosmonaut



Category: The Broken Earth Series - N. K. Jemisin
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:53:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28117248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bastardcosmonaut/pseuds/bastardcosmonaut
Summary: Okay so I finished The Fifth Season and thought to myself "I would literally read 30 chapters of Alabaster and Syenite vibing on that island with their hot boyfriend" and then I remembered that's what fanfic is for.Anyway! Syenite finally lets herself believe that she's safe in Meov, and she cries bc she and Alabaster and their child are finally safe and Alabaster holds her.
Relationships: Alabaster/Damaya | Essun | Syenite/Innon
Comments: 1
Kudos: 10





	In Which Syenite Breaks

Syenite doesn’t break the way Alabaster does the first time Innon fucks her.

That’s not to say it isn’t good, because evil earth, it is. It’s the best she’s ever had. Making love to Innon is like nothing she’s ever experienced, he’s big and strong and just so unrelenting and he doesn’t stop until she and Alabaster are a pair of sweaty, satisfied heaps, lying side by side on their bed. 

It’s good, but it doesn’t break her. 

In fact, she doesn’t break until more than a year after arriving on the island. By that time, Coru is 6 months old. He’s a handful for the both of them, but she supposes that’s what all babies are like- it’s not like she’s done this before, after all. 

It’s strange to think of herself as a mother. She hardly thinks of her own mother, even now; the woman who locked her in a freezing cold barn, who gave her up to the Fulcrum without remorse. 

She wonders if she can even really be a mother, if that’s something the Fulcrum has robbed her of too. But then, Corundum is healthy, isn’t he? He’s healthy and clean and well-fed with milk from her breasts, so she and ‘Baster must be doing something right. 

Corundum wakes them, shrieking and wailing. It’s still dark out, but Syenite can tell it’s right before daybreak. She starts to get up, but Alabaster stops her.   
“Let me” he croaks in a still-sleepy voice, so she does let him. As she listens to him get up and soothe their child, her half-awake brain lets her think something she wouldn’t dare think if she were alert:

Coru will grow up free. 

He will never be taken away from his home. His hands will never be broken, his spirit will never be bowed. He will never be sent to a nodule to be lobotomized and molested. He will grow up with two parents who love him very much, on a lovely island where he will never want for anything, and he will grow up to be not a tool, not a weapon, but a human being.

At this thought, Syenite starts crying. She doesn’t mean to, and she doesn’t want to,  
but the tears come unbidden. Finding herself quite unable to stem the flow, she settles for turning herself away from Alabaster’s place and crying as quietly as possible, so he doesn’t hear. 

The infant placated, Alabaster returns to bed. At first, he doesn’t notice anything unusual. Then, he realizes Syenite is shaking in a way he’s never seen before. He listens close, and hears barely audible gasps of breath. No- not gasps. Sobs.

Alabaster doesn’t know what to do. Syen is usually the one who comforts him, not the other way around. And after all this time, he realizes, he’s never seen her cry. 

He doesn’t know exactly what this is about- that is, he doesn’t know what triggered it. But he can guess what it’s about in a general sense. It’s probably not dissimilar to the same thing he felt his night with Innon- that first exercise of freedom in earth knows how long rendering him utterly inconsolable as a lifetime of pain came bubbling up to the surface. 

He needs to do something. Syenite’s always taking care of him, it’s high time he returned the favor. And more than that- her sorrow pains him. Each sob triggers a tightening in his stomach. He still doesn’t know what to do, but rust it, he’s doing something. He loves her too much to allow her to face this alone.

He reaches out, over her body to grasp her hand. Syen flinches when she realizes she’s been found out, but she lets him take her hand, and when he pulls on it gently, she rolls over. Without missing a beat Alabaster wraps his arms around her and tucks her under his chin. Syen tenses, but allows herself to be held, quiet sobs still racking her body. 

Then, Alabaster does something that surprises both of them. He cranes his neck down, and kisses her forehead so tenderly that Syen’s heart breaks a little. Between them is a message, unspoken like everything else they share. 

I’m here. Cry as long as you need.

And then she really is breaking, crying so hard she can’t breathe, crying and crying and crying until her throat is dry and croaky, and then ‘Baster goes to get her a glass of water, and she drinks it, and by then it’s only a couple stray tears making their way down her cheeks. 

‘Baster returns to bed and keeps holding her as the dawn breaks and the room fills with light. Soon, they will arise, and pretend like nothing has happened.

But for now, Syenite allows herself to be held. She allows herself to cry.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Honestly I'm thinking of writing a longer piece where the Guardian ship never attacks Meov and Alabaster and Syenite live out the rest of their days pirating and raising Coru.


End file.
